Tuck Skating - Margie Freed

Tuck Skating

Hopefully you've been working hard on your fitness this summer, but there is always more that could be done to perfect a skier's technique. Here I will go over tuck skating basics and how an athlete can break this technique down to improve on their own.

Tuck skating is a technique used to maintain speed, accelerate at speed, and to shift into movement from a tuck Specific times tuck skating is used are transitions to hills at high speeds, at the start of a downhill before a full tuck, on a fast home stretch, and also in an adapted way through corners.

Overall, the lower body of tuck skating is similar to V2 with strong, even leg pushes on each side. There should be weight shift for each glide push and a reload before the next push while balances. The upper body during a tuck skate should stay bent over with the shoulders turning slightly toward the unweighted ski during each leg push. Depending on speed, a skier's arms will either be under their armpits as if in a full tuck, or alternately swinging to add momentum with each leg push.

To break down the leg movement a bit more, it can be split into the push phase and the glide phase. The push stems from leaning forward and pushing off of a single let. The ski then tilts slightly inward to get an edge to push off of. Hips and shoulders then shift toward the unweighted ski as the push comes to an end.

The glide phase starts when the new ski contacts the ground and ends at the leg push. This new ski balances through ankle bend. Once speed begins to decline, the new push phase starts on that leg. This whole process only lasts a couple seconds but it can greatly improve efficiency. 

It is crucial to learn good tuck skating for maintaining high speeds, though a skier must be aware of opening up too early and catching a headwind. The key is to stay aerodynamic.

How can someone practice this? Here are some drills you can use to break down and understand the tuck skating technique:

1. While skating a downhill, focus on forward body lean and swinging arms powerfully to understand the coordination

2. Without equipment and on one leg, shift from the outside to the inside edge of each foot, then hop to the other leg and repeat. Slowly shift this into larger skater hops

3. On a slight uphill, work on a strong leg push with arms behind back. Tuck skating should have this same strong push for the downhil

4. While skiing downhill, keep hands behind your back. Try to stay balanced on one ski as long as possible. 

With this breakdown of tuck skating, you should be able to work the technique into your repertoire and increase your efficiency. It is a great time to start working on this as fall is upon us and skiers begin to dial in the smaller focus points. 

Good luck with your training!

Margie Freed